On Hiatus: God's Personal Reasons-Chapter 239: #Bad Ending&

Usually, seeing a pregnant woman would remind me of when my older sister was expecting Seong-Yeon, stirring my protective instincts. But that wasn’t the case when seeing the pregnant lady before me.

If anything, I was afraid. A foreign fear, as if an unidentified monster were hiding beneath human skin.

The pregnant lady heaved as she sat down at the booth. My eyes fell on her blood-stained dress.

Ding!

[The innate power Blind Eyes of God has been activated.]

-----

[---]

A female human. Around for 29 years.

Special note: Killed her husband.

-----

My breath caught in my throat when I saw the new special note.

The pregnant lady merely smiled and said, “Actually, I’m the one who created God-Maker.”

“Huh...?”

Her confession hit me like a bolt of lightning.

“I had done countless trials and errors. Manipulating gods’ causality isn’t easy, after all. Did you know? The emperor was an unexpected success born from an unfinished creation.”

With her bloody hands, she reached for her curly locks, which still had vivid traces of blood.

“After completing the God-Maker, I used my causality to ensure it landed in the hands of the person on Earth with the greatest potential to become a god. I never expected someone like you would be chosen, though.”

My face had turned pale, but she kept smiling at me. “Still, things had become more interesting than I’d expected—while it lasted, anyway.”

Dread crept up in me as I considered the various meanings behind “while it lasted.” I felt like I was being held at gunpoint.

With a trembling voice, I struggled to speak, “W-who... are you?”

“Oh my, you still haven’t guessed?” She covered her mouth, chuckling softly. “I have been called many names, but the one you Earthlings gave me is my favorite.”

Sss!

Her eyes caved in, overflowing with the darkness of the abyss. They stared at me, almost swallowing me whole.

“I’m God of Destroyer’s First Apostle, the Hopelessness and Soil of Hell, Despair. At least, that’s the name I have on Earth.”

Ding!

Suddenly, her appraisal window changed.

-----

[Despair Abyss]

Around for 29 years on Earth. An alter ego containing God of Destroyer’s real form.

Special note: Capable of transforming into a dragon.

-----

I could feel cold sweat pouring like rain.

She... is Despair?

The thought had occurred to me before, but seeing it with my own eyes made my heart pound like crazy.

Surprisingly, I don’t feel any other special powers.

Aside from the sense of foreboding, I couldn’t sense any divine powers from her. In fact, if not for the appraisal, I never would’ve imagined she was the monster humans feared as Despair. Did she hide her powers? The special note also got me worried.

Dragonification...

If she transformed into that hundreds-of-meters-long dragon right then and there, only disaster could follow.

Yi-Shin, grab Sam-Shin and get here immediately!

After sending a telepathic message to my alter egos, I decided to buy more time for us. I started another conversation with her, but more carefully this time.

“What...are you doing here?”

She covered her mouth, smiling coyly. “Hoho, I’m here to see you, of course. Didn’t I promise you before?”

While I was all tenses, she suddenly handed me a book—it was my newly released paperback book.

“Please sign this for me.”

Damn it! What exactly is she thinking!

My mind was filled with complicated thoughts, but I still picked up the pen and signed the book, all while trying my best to hide my confusion.

“Of course.”

All I could do now was wait for my alter egos to arrive. However, my hand shook as I held the pen.

“Uhm, excuse me, Ma’am.” My editor-in-charge approached, sensing the unusual tension around us.

“D-don’t come over, Sir!” I yelled uncharacteristically.

The pregnant lady’s empty, abyssal eyes shifted to him. “What a noisy insect.”

In the next moment, the sound of a balloon popping echoed in the air. I couldn’t even react. Blood and shredded pieces of flesh rained down around me, a single drop landing on my cheek. My vision blurred. I was choking, and my ears were ringing so loudly, my eardrums almost ripped apart.

I didn’t want to believe any of this was real.

“Aaaah!”

A passerby's horrified scream shattered the silence, setting off a chain reaction. Soon, more people screamed and fled. Chaos erupted everywhere.

“Ugh, a bunch of noisy insects.”

She scanned our surroundings.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Then, silence fell. Not a single scream echoed, as over a hundred humans were torn to pieces.

“Finally, it’s quiet, But, Mr. Yu?” As if she had merely wiped off the dust on a glass surface, she smiled wickedly at me. “Are you trying to kill me?”

I froze. In the chaos, I had swung my blade, only to stop less than a centimeter from her neck.

Darn it! Move! Move, I say!

I gritted my teeth, using every ounce of strength to move, but I couldn’t budge. I felt like a frog standing before a snake.

“Did you just ignore that I’m the creator of God-Maker? As if you can harm me with the power you gained through it.” Her icy cold hands caressed my cheek, sending chills down my spine.

“Why are you mad at me? I’ve only gotten rid of a few insects?” She tilted her head to the side. “What's the difference between the insects that were saved and the ones that were killed? Have you found the answer, Mr. Yu?”

It was the same question she’d asked when we first met. Then, she caressed the blood stain on her pure white dress.

“In hope of finding an answer, I even killed my husband. As expected, I didn’t feel anything.”

Ding!

[The innate power Blind Eyes of God has been activated.]

I saw a man smiling brightly, carrying a bowl of freshly made soybean paste stew for his full-term wife.

“Honey, this is your favorite soybean paste stew. Let’s go on a date after you finish your meal...”

Boom!

In the next moment, his smile turned bloodied and vanished without a trace. The pregnant woman expressionlessly gazed down at her husband, who had been shredded to pieces. The tragedy occurred thirty minutes ago.

“Such annoying eyes.” Despair lifted a finger and stabbed my right eye.

Crunch!

The sound of her finger perforating my right eye rang, and the world went dark.

“Aaargh!”

She licked her finger, which was covered in my blood, then said, “Actually, you becoming a Top-tier god after defeating War God was the development I had hoped for. Too bad, it’s just a pipe dream. It seems like you aren’t God of Creation’s fragment, after all. If I left you as you were, the story would grow stale, so I decided it was better to end it sooner rather than later.”

She raised the same index finger and aimed for my remaining eye.

N-no! Don’t do it! Please!

“Des...troy!”

A massive red beam of destruction poured down on the pregnant lady.

Baaaam!

However, right before hitting her, its trajectory shifted upward and destroyed the ceiling.

“Hmm?”

Pzzz!

Her hollow gaze laid on Sam-Shin, whose eyes were glowing red.

Clack!

Sam-Shin stood frozen just like I did.

“Is this your alter ego? Seeing him in person, he’s really cu—”

Yi-Shin stealthily appeared behind Despair like a shadow.

Swaaaa!

He gripped Demon Lord tightly, slicing through the air and aiming for her neck.

Thud!

However, he was stopped and frozen in place like Sam-Shin and I.

Despair chuckled. “Hoho, like I said, you and your alter egos can’t harm me.”

Yi-Shin gritted his teeth. “Argh! This bitch!”

Wooong!

Demon Lord trembled, letting out a low growl like a beast.

-I can never forget this energy! You! You’re the one who killed my daughter! How dare you show up here with her face!

“Gosh. What a noisy ghost.”

She laid her empty eyes upon Demon Lord, and spider-web-like cracks appeared on him. He shattered into pieces, scattering everywhere.

Sir! I screamed silently.

In such a short time, I lost two of my most precious people. Even a Top-tier god like Abundance noonim required immense causality to resurrect someone—something I could never dream of.

“W-what’s happening?”

“Mr. Yu?”

The Sung sisters appeared amid the slaughter, the air thick with the scent of blood

They’re here already?

I knew they were coming today, but I had underestimated their physical abilities as S-rank Hunters. Sung Mi-Na turned pale when she saw Despair.

“Y-you are...”

“Let Mr. Yu go!”

Pzzz!

Sung Mi-Ri transformed into a raging beast, emitting fierce lightning all over.

Rooooar!

Her SS-rank power shook the entire building, nearly bringing it down. Instead of feeling threatened, Despair licked her lips as if she was looking at a dessert.

“Oh my, my sacrifices have come to me themselves. You’re quite ripe.”

“I said to let them off, you monster!”

“N-no! Mi-Ri! Stop!”

Sung Mi-Na instinctively recognized the pregnant woman's identity and tried to stop her younger sister, but Sung Mi-Ri had already lunged at Despair like a lightning bolt.

Despair opened her mouth wide, grinning. Normal people wouldn’t be able to see it, but my remaining good eye saw everything.

Kyaaaa!

An invisible, giant dragon had its maw wide open, ready to swallow Sung Mi-Ri whole.

No! She’s going to die at this rate!

Just then, Yi-Shin smirked.

“Now, Il-Ho!”

Il-Ho? Did he just say Il-Ho?

Baaaam!

At the same time, a black figure pierced through the floor, standing between us.

“Got you!”

Il-Ho squeezed Despair’s neck just before she could devour Sung Mi-Ri.

Despair was taken aback. “Oh? I completely forgot there was another High-tier being on Earth...

She couldn’t finish her words.

“Haaa! Muuuuscles!”

Il-Ho’s muscles bulged and swelled until they almost burst. Forcibly separated from her body, Despair’s head rolled to the floor.

Finally, I could move again. I looked at the head rolling on the floor, wondering, D-did we kill her once and for all?

Just then, my eyes met Despair’s. Her lips parted slowly—though no sound came out, lacking vocal cords, I could still make out the words she was mouthing...

“The... end of the world?”

Suddenly, Yi-Shin flew and furiously trampled on Despair’s head.

“Fucking clown! You’re finally dead!”

Before teleporting over, Yi-Shin seemed to have figured out that his own attacks wouldn’t work on Despair, and had prepared Il-Ho’s ambush as a trump card.

Amazing.

So, Despair was dead.

But, why?

Something still felt off.

“E-everyone, run...”

Just then, I heard a cry—it was Sung Mi-Na’s.

“U-Unni?”

Sung Mi-Na was trembling and in tears, a mirror of her terrified younger self from the day she was branded by the Despair Dragon.

“S-something... has just been born...”

Born?

I instinctively looked at the headless corpse lying on the ground. Her pregnant belly was sunken. What happened to the baby?

“Quick, run...”

Kwaaaa!

“U-Unni?”

Suddenly, without prior warning, Sung Mi-Na was crushed by something invisible and shattered into pieces.